[Rich Kressly]

Thanks for raising this topic in a very thoughtful way...

I don't think there is any reason to be torn at all. Everyone's experience is different, but the core mission gets accomplished. You don't even need to try and draw any deep conclusions from it all. FIRST is/was about "learning" for you. And I'm sure those students on the engineer-driven team "learned" some things, but perhaps they weren't design, etc. I run my current team differently than I helped run 103 a few years back. I never bother trying to compare a whole lot or try to evaluate all of FIRST because of these two experiences. I just recognize that I am different than other leaders and the students and community I work in now have different needs. In the end, we're still pursuing the same level of excellence with a social conscious, but we're going about it in a way that makes sense for us as a team and community.

Let me briefly compare my experience as an assistant college baseball coach to illustrate a point...

Every year we brought in a new crop of freshman from many different high school programs. Some of the frosh we took on came from programs where the players made more decisions (catchers/pitchers calling there own pitches, base runners making their own decisions on when to steal, etc) and other frosh came from programs where the coaching staff called every pitch and made all decisions regarding offensive strategy. The end result was having some players who "understood" certain parts of the game, others players who were able to follow instructions, but lacked that understanding, and still others who developed some bad habits because they were given too much responsibility/freedom.

In the end, however, they all developed enough interest, skill, and set of qualifications to become part of our college baseball team. Mission accomplished, correct? However, FIRST students stand a much better chance of actually making a living someday from their passion and skill set than my baseball players ever did.

Relax. Celebrate the differences. Sometimes "evaluation" and "conclusions" are the last things you need.

namaste.